Wednesday, December 2, 2015

The Potential Reality of Climate Change and Public Health

Air and
water pollution was been a problem for at least a century, so why, even with
some of the policies that have been implemented over the centuries is it still
such a huge problem? The problem of air and water pollution causing public
health issues has been known for decades now. Even in the late 1800's England
was implementing clean air acts. So why, if we have knowledge about this, have
we ignored it? It's known that industrialization and urbanization contributes
to climate change and has negative impacts on the public’s health in all different
types of areas. This is what bothers me about the health effects climate change
will cause. This spread of disease, and physical/psychological harm to the population
is only going to get worse from here and if climate change goes unchecked
millions of people will die prematurely. Has history taught us nothing? People
could potentially lose their lives because governments can’t learn from
experience and example.

Severe climate change can be prevented with
the proper measures but why has it taken so long to implement the proper
changes needed to keep the public healthy? If the world would have invested in
renewable energy, research, and sustainable technologies sooner we might have
been able to keep the climate from changing so much and causing a potential
global scale threat to public health. So many lives could have been saved by
just paying better attention to air pollution itself. I learned today during
the talks at COP21 that an average of 7 million people die a year from air pollution
around the world today. This is simply unacceptable, these types of illnesses
and poor quality of life should not be seen as often as it is in today’s world.
Even looking into environmental archaeology these types of problems are shown
as early as the 1650’s but usually they occur slowly over time when a shift in
industrialization is about to occur.

How is it we let it get this far? Where century’s
old data on populations are still applicable to today’s world because we have
done so little to help correct the climate situation. The time to act is now
before it gets worse and we see a shift in public health like never seen
before. We have had plagues, epidemics, pandemics and have seen millions die
from some diseases but what climate change will have in store for the public’s
health will be nothing compared to what we’ve seen before. Not only will countless be displaced, hungry,
poor and homeless but there will be physical injuries from hurricanes,
tornadoes, tsunami’s, earthquakes, droughts, floods, and more. On top of
physical injuries there will be a spread of diseases like malaria and dengue
fever as well as a swell in infectious disease because of a lack of sanitation
and pollution. I could go on but I think you get the point.

Climate change, if unchecked, will severely
alter the standard of living everywhere and adversely affect public health. Are
we prepared for that future? If a natural disaster occurred today would we have
the medical resources to take care of everyone who was physically injured as
well as those who were already sick? I don’t know the answer to that question
but if we aren’t prepared now how can we expect to be prepared for a future
where the world will be covered in tragedies like this. We can’t airlift the
urban poor to hospitals that are already filled with sick and dying people. Nor
can we expect the researchers to suddenly provide the cure to all of the
diseases that plague the planet because so many people develop them. A whole
other aspect to this is the medical staff and medicine itself. Will we have
enough doctors, nurses, and aids to help all of these people? Will we have
enough chemical and natural supplies in the world to make all of the necessary
treatments for those who are ill and those who would develop these diseases? These
are the questions that will arise because of the effects of climate change if
we don’t do something about it soon. I don’t know about all of you, but it’s a
scary and chilling thought if we aren’t prepared. Are we willing to take
responsibility for all of those who will have died because they couldn’t get
care? How many will just die on the street. I know it sounds dramatic, but if a
diseases in history like the plague, cholera, and influenza can kill thousands
of people or more without any help from climate change what do you think will
happen once it does?

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The college was accepted as a civil society observer (NGO) for the United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change in 2009. We started this blog to tell our story as we experienced these international negotiations and side events for the first time - as seen through the eyes of students, faculty, alumni, friends of the college. Our previous delegations have attended conferences in Denmark, Mexico, South Africa, Qatar, Poland, Peru, France, and Morocco. The delegation is currently in Bonn, Germany, for COP23.

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